TOURNAMENT OF THE YEAR: Nick Taylor Buries A 72-Footer On The 4th Playoff Hole To Become The First Canadian To Win The Canadian Open Since 1954
HOLY HELL WHAT A BOMB!!!!
Just an incredible tournament and awesome storyline this week. The Canadian Open is one of the longest running tournaments and a title has eluded the natives for so so long. Damn near 70 years and Nick Taylor is finally the one who breaks through and gets it done. It was definitely lost in the shuffle of a wild Sunday, but Taylor actually shot 75 on Thursday and found himself with an uphill battle to even make the cut. 67-63-66 will do that.
But it was really the 72nd hole and subsequent playoff against Tommy Fleetwood that was the story here. Taylor made a slider for birdie on the last to get to the clubhouse at -17.
With Taylor holding his breath in the clubhouse, Tommy Fleetwood found himself on the 18th tee at -17 needing a birdie on the 499 par 5 to win the tournament outright. A poor tee shot left him in the rough, and then Fleetwood stunningly chose to lay up instead of running something up around the green to set up an up and down. Problem was, Fleetwood's layup was garbage too, leaving him a sideways lie buried in the rough and suddenly bogey looked more likely than birdie. He managed to dump it on to the green and lag one closet to get his par and send it to a playoff... and that's where the fun began.
It was a serious Ryder Cup environment out there. Home crowd was going bananas for Taylor and outright rooting against Fleetwood, and countrymen of each side were out there in the rain supporting their guys.
On the first playoff hole, each managed to get on the dancefloor with good looks at birdie. Fleetwood buried a downhill 20 footer to put the pressure on Taylor to make his 5 foot birdie putt, which he did.
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The 2nd playoff hole featured both making par, including a mailjob by Fleetwood into the right grandstands that really didn't penalize him whatsoever. Pars on the 3rd playoff hole sent us back to the 18th hole, where Taylor got on in 2 and set us up with the putt that this tournament will ultimately be remembered for.
Longest putt of his damn career and it came in that spot to win his 3rd career PGA Tour event. The win is extra sweet after he tried to hold onto the lead at Scottsdale with major dough on the line and couldn't bring it home. And of course, it's a huge win for his country.
On the other hand, yet another near miss for Tommy Fleetwood. Somehow the guy doesn't have a PGA Tour win, and NIck Taylor has 3. No offense to Taylor, but that just doesn't seem right. The meltdown on the 72nd hole is one that makes you think there's a serious mental hurdle for him to overcome. Of course the ballsy putt on the 2nd playoff hole goes against that, but narratives are built off of results and the fact of the matter is he just hasn't gotten it done. I'm sure it'll happen soon, but who knows when it'll happen.
PS Adam Hadwin got SMOKED by a security guard on the green after, great low center of gravity by that guy there through the hit.